"EDUCATION IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON WHICH YOU CAN USE TO CHANGE THE WORLD" ~Nelson Mandela

It is my belief that a teacher’s role is to educate students with clarity in an efficient and respectful manner. The ability to differentiate and tailor instruction techniques to cater to the needs of various students is something that I value in the education system. I think that the most important job of a teacher is to provide the students with the tools necessary to succeed while making learning fun, active, and engaging. When teaching social studies, creating a learning experience that is meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active can enhance student learning in all areas of social studies.

At the beginning of the semester, I found myself very nervous and overwhelmed about the course expectations. I knew entering this course that there would be a lot of work and that we were going to be required to incorporate technology into our lesson plans. As the semester progressed, I found myself growing professionally. I was learning the language of a professional individual, techniques to implement lessons effectively, and how to incorporate a variety of tools via technology to help enhance the effectiveness of a lesson plan.

I have learned many things about teaching and constructing unit plans this semester. Each lesson that is created must play an important role in developing the students’ overall understanding of the major ideas and concepts that the unit plan intends to address. I have experienced what it is like to teach a whole class of students which helped to increase my confidence and comfort in teaching. I learned several ways on how to incorporate technology into lesson plans to make them more engaging and meaningful for all of the students. Tools such as Voki animations and Wordles can provide for a good, engaging introduction to a lesson or an activity. 

Throughout the semester, I have become more familiar with the different teaching methods and strategies and learned the benefits of each. I plan on using all of the new information that I learned throughout my student teaching experiences as well as my future careers. One of my favorite learning experiences was the edTPA assignment. This course requirement provided me with an experience with the edTPA prior to having to complete it for student teaching. This allowed me to become familiar with the format of edTPA and to receive feedback regarding the assignment. This will be helpful for me in my future student teaching because the task will not be completely unfamiliar to me.

In my future classroom, I wish to instill within students the idea that they have a call to involvement in the community. I believe that it is important for the teacher to develop good, participatory citizens. By informing students about the current events in society, I can promote students involvement in their community as active, engaged citizens. Education should be dedicated to building the human intellect. Rather than simply teaching content, I will create learning experiences that provide the students with the necessary skills and strategies that can be used to learn a variety of concepts. By making generalizations, students are able to make connections in their learning which can be applied across all content areas and in real-life situations.

My future classroom will also consist of differentiated instruction. I believe that all students should be taught in a way that is going to be beneficial to their learning. By tailoring instruction to each student’s needs, the teacher can create challenging learning experiences for his or her students that will assist in the overall understanding of the content. Rather than explicitly teaching the content knowledge to the students, students should develop their own content understanding, with the guidance and support of the teacher. I will provide my students with an opportunity to participate in inquiry-based learning methods and cooperative learning methods, which will help them to build other skills, such as communication, problem solving, and social skills, that will assist them in all areas of study.

Reflection on Reflections

Reflecting on one's work has several benefits. Throughout our fieldwork experience, we were asked to reflect on our own teaching experiences as well as our observations of our peers' teaching. Throughout this process, I was able to grow professionally as it allowed me to look back and reflect on the lessons that I had implemented. As I was teaching, I did not notice many of the mishaps and technicalities of the lesson. However, by filming our lessons, I was able to watch my instructional methods and take note on the techniques and approaches that appeared to not be as effective.

In addition to reflecting on my own teaching, it was also required that we reflect on our peers' professional growth. For the fieldwork experience, I completed  three pluses and an wish. This exercise allows observers to provide positive, constructive criticism to their fellow classmates. Also, this gives an individual a different perspective. Often times, one person sees something that another did not notice. By reflecting on each others' learning and performance, we can all learn and become the best teachers we can be.

Peer feedback for our group's lesson:

My feedback for group 3 and group 4:

In addition to providing feedback and reflecting on fieldwork experiences, Dr. Smirnova also requested that we reflect on our peers blog posts. Below are the links to the blog posts and comment I made that share my thoughts and reflections on my classmates' professional growth.
Reflection 1

Reflection 2

Reflection 3

Putting the Pieces Together for Learning

In class, we worked on a collaborative jigsaw project in which the class was divided into different base groups. The base group assigned a Native American tribe to each member of the group. Once the tribes were assigned, the class found their expert groups. Expert groups are the people from other groups who were going to be studying the same Native American tribe. These expert groups worked to find the important information about the tribe, keeping in mind the essential question at hand: How did geography effect the Native American tribes? 

This activity helped to develop my knowledge of the Native American tribes content because, through research and the teaching performed by my peers, I relearned much of the information that I had previously acquired in elementary school. I thought that this learning experience provided a means for learning and becoming an expert in a specific area and then learning from one's peers to better one's understanding of the topic overall. Prior to the project, I had little background knowledge about the Native American tribes. Though I recognized them by name, I was unable to list any facts about each tribe. After the activity, I was able to see my improvement of knowledge by taking the assessment tests created for each group. 

I thought that by completing the Jigsaw activity, I was able to better understand the effects and benefits of this method of learning. I learned that students often learn best when they are learning and teaching for themselves. Many times, the instructional approach that is taken within classrooms is direct instruction. Though this approach has its benefits, there are other methods that prove to be more effective in certain situations. 

This activity could help students learn about geography because they are exploring the effects that geography can have on a specific group of people. Many of the tribes that we studied were affected by geography in similar ways. Students can explore the similarities and differences and how the place in which a person lives can impact the way that they live. 

As a future teacher, I plan on using the jigsaw method to promote cooperative learning. This approach to learning allows students to become experts in a specific topic in a unit, which improves their understanding of the results of their learning. This activity would also provide students with an opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning. This activity could be used across all content are and can be an effective method for learning at all grade levels. Students in the lower elementary grades can complete this activity with more guidance from the teacher. In the upper elementary grades, groups can work more independently and take on more responsibility for their learning. 

"Teachers Who Love Teaching, Teach Children to Love Learning"

Though it has been only a short amount of time, the knowledge and experience I gained through completing my fieldwork teaching experience is tremendous. On day one, my nerves had gotten the best of me. Many thoughts were going through my head: were the students going to understand the material, would they enjoy the presentation, do I know the content, what if things do not go as planned. I learned that teaching cannot be scripted. Often times, the teacher cannot predict the responses that the students are going to provide. Because of this, it is important for teachers to be able to think on the spot and relate the responses provided to the correct answer.

One of my favorite experiences during our fieldwork placement was implementing the cooperative learning lesson plan. I thought that this lesson went smoothly, despite the difficulties my group had with technology. Had this been our first lesson that we taught, I think, as a group, we would have panicked. However, when our presentation did not work on the computer, we were able to improvise and carry out a discussion with the students as if the presentation was being displayed on the board. This experience has taught me a valuable lesson. Before teaching a lesson, especially one that includes technology, have a back up plan.

Another lesson that I learned is that communication is essential for the success of co-teaching. Our group taught two lessons consecutively. In between the two lessons, I had spoken to Dr. Smirnova and she gave me a suggestion on how to carry out the lesson in a more timely manner. So as the second lesson began, I took Dr. Smirnova's suggestion into consideration. However, I forgot to inform my group members of the minor change. Despite the confusion, we were able to work off of each other to provide students with all of the necessary information that they needed.

Creating a meaningful learning experience for students is very important when teaching social studies to young learners. Typically, many students cringe at the thought of studying about the past and the other various areas of social studies. However, by providing students with an opportunity to participate in meaningful, authentic, and engaging activities, students are more likely to remember and learn the content that is being presented to them.

Incorporating technology into the lessons can be used to help engage students throughout the learning process. Something as simple as a Wordle or Voki animation can be used to grab the students attention and introduce the lesson or activity to the class. I thought that the Voki animation provided a good introduction to the task in our inquiry lesson. Our Voki animation of George Washington told the class that he had a mission for them in which they were going to become historians and discover the past. The students in the class were excited to complete their work and report back to George Washington on their group's findings.

At the end of the American Revolution Unit, our entire class celebrated the fourth graders hard work and achievement during the prior weeks by presenting them with certificates. We also administered a post test to see how much the students learned based on the lessons that each of the four groups had taught them. It was interesting to compare the test results to the pretest. By doing so, we were able to measure the students' improvement of their understanding of the content at the end of the unit.

Overall, I thought that the teaching experience went very well. I think that the experience is something that will help build my confidence in the classroom and help me to become a better teacher. I look forward to using the lessons that I learned in my future teaching.

Hug the Earth

Hug the Earth 

On November 11, our class time was spent discussing with our peers our concerns for the Earth and what we think is important to teach to our future students based on these concerns. Through an activity called Hug the Earth, each student was given an opportunity to express his or her concern for the Earth and propose a way in which he or she could bring awareness to the issue in our own classrooms. Many of the issues presented in the class discussion involved world peace, saving the animals, and building awareness of the effects of bullying on specific groups of people. The issues mentioned in the class varied from global issues to local issues. After each student had shared his or her thoughts, one student held the globe up in the center while the rest of the students placed a hand on it.
This could be used as a symbol for how, as a class, we can make a difference in the world by addressing the concerns that we had previously expressed.


This activity can be used in an elementary classroom to introduce the students to a geography unit. Students can each take turns and hug the Earth as they share something that concerns them. Students can reflect on the ideas of their peers by contributing to the discussion. The students will come to realize, with the guidance of the teacher, that they can make a difference in the world. All together, the class can take on the challenge of bringing awareness to some of the concerns expressed throughout the activity.